Topic: Legal Topics
Slow adoption of open mobility platforms is not the only hurdle faced by consumers and open source advocates--government legislation and the complexity of managing your identity are also holding back innovation. At the 2006 Emerging Telephony Conference, Bill Weinberg, Brad Templeton, and Johannes Ernst discuss some of the difficulties open telephony must overcome. Learn about the adoption of open platforms, the innovation-killing CALEA law, and how we can take back control over our digital identities.
One of the things that open source software needs the most is the full protection of the law. Eben Moglen, Professor of Law at Columbia University Law School, congratulates the open source community on their success in becoming an important part of current technology, but also discusses how important it is to protect the user's rights. He reviews the legal atmosphere of intellectual property rights and how more restrictive to sharing they have become in recent years and how the end user has become the biggest loser because of this change.
Denise Howell talks with science fiction author James D. Macdonald who tested the distinction between a traditional publisher and a vanity press when he tried to get "the worst novel ever written" accepted by PublishAmerica, a company that claimed to be a traditional publisher, but published nearly every book offered and derived most of its sales from the authors themselves. Macdonald also discusses his later experience with a true vanity press, as well as his views on copyright and the impact of technology on its enforcement.
Dr. Moira Gunn speaks with attorney Allison Young, who describes the legal obstacles states face trying to bring down the price of pharmaceuticals.
Bottom up content development and user generated submissions have triggered an intriguing pop-phenomenon. Anyone can be a video programmer and upload their creative effort for the entire world to see. But this initial growth stage in the Internet as a platform for video may only prove to be a precursor of what is to come. There are a mixture of relevant legal, technical and business issues that loom ahead, most significantly Hollywood's desire to protect its content at all costs.
Brian Capouch is proud of his rural Indiana roots but believes that the definition of rural should not include having to forego internet access and VOIP. In a lively and humorous presentation, the computer science professor from Saint Joseph's College describes his attempts to bring wireless internet and VOIP to a low density population, how he controls costs, and the threat posed to his endeavor by recent legislation.
Who owns the rights to user created content on the internet? The IPG Emerging Media Lab is trying to answer those, and other questions companies have about the interactive web. Lori H. Schwartz and Jeff Berg, director and content editor at IPG, talk with Denise Howell about providing innovation and thought leadership to companies trying to engage users in a fragmented media marketplace.
What is an open standard? Vendors and standards bodies are currently free to promote any definition they wish, but the legal costs of dealing with the confusion are rising. Now, the open source community is sparking a broader discussion aimed at a new consensus on the defiinition of the term open standard. Danese Cooper explains the Open Standards Requirement, an attempt to define five key criteria, and how they will evolve through public discussion.
Podcasters may unexpectedly find themselves on the wrong side of the law. In this audio interview with Denise Howell, Colette Vogele talk about a free guide for podcasters on their legal rights and responsibilities that she and her colleagues have developed to demystify the legal dangers raised by the blossoming of audio and video podcasting.
Confused about what the second draft of the General Public License version 3 means? Let 2006 Google/O'Reilly Open Source Legal Eagle award winner Cliff Schmidt walk you through the changes. Schmidt also speaks about recent moves by the Open Source Initiative, as well as Google, to combat license proliferation. He also talks about some changes to the Apache license, and explains how a non-lawyer such as himself wins a Legal Eagle award in the first place.
